Project overview

In collaboration with ADR UK, RCM Cooperative facilitated the co-creation of a set of recommended operating principles (technical and socio-technical) for research communities working with administrative data.

We ensured the guidelines reflected the priorities of both ADR UK and the community leaders by developing a high degree of trust and alignment between all involved, using our deep expertise of working with academic communities and our inclusive collaboration approach.

Strategic objectives & methodology

We used a multi-modal engagement strategy to achieve four primary goals:

1. Network Seeding: Established a network of ADR UK community leaders from diverse sectors with four Nations representation.
2. Principles Development: Used an iterative prioritisation process to define generalisable operating principles for communities.
3. Capacity Building: Delivered foundational training in the skills, structures and staging required for effective research community management.
4. Equitable Collaboration: Provided experiential learning of equitable co-creation process, ensuring participants felt empowered as experts in the collaborative development of recommendations.

Recommendations for community success

Together we identified four essential pillars for the success of ADR UK’s research communities:

1. Collaborative Infrastructure: A critical requirement for robust digital and physical co-working spaces to ensure broad participation and opportunities for members to discover synergies.
2. Brand Visibility and Legitimisation: A desire for formal recognition by the funding body through visible branding and dedicated space on official platforms to enhance credibility with stakeholders.
3. Operational Efficiency: The adoption and communication of clear objectives, meeting agendas, and community charters to respect participant time and ensure high-value knowledge exchange.
4. Community-Led Missions: A strong preference for models where activities emerge organically from member interests rather than top-down prescriptions, aligning with academic freedom.

Outcomes

• High Engagement: The programme attracted consistent participation throughout both the online and in‑person phases.
• Knowledge Transfer: Participants reported that the activities meaningfully strengthened their understanding of how to build and support research communities.
• Immediate Application: Many participants indicated they planned to put their learning into practice straight away, either in their day‑to‑day roles, in teaching, or within public‑facing research activities.
• Empowerment: Participants felt their contributions were genuinely valued by ADR UK and that they were well supported to share their expertise.

Impact

Following the workshops, one participant was successfully awarded funds to set up the UK Data Linkage Community (UK DLC). The community lead and participant in our project, Mike Edwards had this to say about the impact of our work:

“Before this workshop, I was very unlikely to seek funding to establish a community. The course gave me the frameworks to clearly formulate my vision for the UK DLC, which was essential in presenting a successful proposal to funders, co-chairs and potential community members. Discussions with a diverse group of participants and the RCM Cooperative team helped me refine our goals and gave me the confidence to communicate my work across different audience levels. The ‘Empowered Groups’ participation framework really struck a chord, and has become the core narrative for our community development. It has also been really well received by the wider community and provides a lot of mutual benefits across the ecosystem.” (Mike Edwards, University of Swansea)

Further communities are soon to be launched, lead by the leaders we supported in this project! ❤️

What happened next

ADR UK have worked hard to develop their internal organisational policies to meet their communities need for ‘Brand Visibility and Legitimisation’. Some notable next steps planned by ADR UK include:

• Recognition of communities with a formal ‘affiliate’ status;
• A communities logo;
• Listing on the ADR UK website;
• Increased resourcing and strategic focus on supporting communities.

This work is a strong demonstration of ADR UK’s commitment to meet the needs voiced by their community leaders, building on the trust which is essential for successful community engagement.

RCM Cooperative’s specialised service model

RCM Cooperative provides the expertise necessary to scale these outcomes for your organisation:

• RCM Training and skill-building: Programs of training, mentorship, and “Community Clinics”, to support community leaders in developing professional skill sets and navigation of community leadership issues as they arise.
• Cohort development: Building connections and relationships between community leaders to strengthen their capacity for collaboration and collective action.
• Collaboration Cafés: Facilitated online co-working to support complex co-creation into valuable community outputs.
• Community data collection and communication: Community data management and interactive visualisations to monitor the impact of investment in your communities.

Take a look at the github repo we used for managing and archiving materials for this project

Project overview

In partnership with the Software Sustainability Institute (SSI), RCM Cooperative successfully delivered a pilot training program designed to formalise and professionalise the Research Community Management role. This initiative recognises the growing number of Research Software Engineers (RSEs), and particularly SSI Fellows, who are leading community projects but have little access to training in community management practices and strategy.

Strategic objectives & methodology

The project was structured around our “RCM101” framework, focusing on the functional and strategic processes required to lead sustainable research communities.

1. Curriculum Development and Training Delivery: Creation and delivery of reusable training materials covering fundamental skills including guidance for assessment, structuring, and staging engagement methods for managing communities.

2. Interactive Pedagogy: Facilitating post-training “Community Clinics” to contextualise the practical frameworks and ground theoretical RCM principles in real-world research challenges.

3. Open Science Methodology: Throughout the process, we ensured adherence to open science principles by providing recorded sessions, templates, and documentation for asynchronous learning and future reuse. A citable version of all resources were published on GitHub and Zenodo.

Outcomes

• Proof of need: The partnership validated the need for community strategy focused training and resources, and in particular, highlighted the value of facilitated group coaching in the form of Community Clinics.
• Alignment across communities: Participants highlighted the significant value of our frameworks and articulated processes, supporting alignment in the use of these tools across RSE roles.
• Communicating about their work: In their feedback, participants highlighted the impact of the simple metaphors we used to describe RCM work, such as “Documentation is our love language”, “RCMs are glue”, and “If you are doing it alone, you are doing it wrong”. They also valued the framing around the purpose of communities as both a marketing tool and complex problem-solving ecosystem.

Although a foundational training, these facilitated sessions served as an important instrument to help participants understand the core concepts and practices of Research Community Management. A dedicated safe space for open interaction allowed the learners to dig deeper into how best practices could be applied in their work, and improve how they communicate about what they do, using shared language and accessible metaphors.

Impact

We asked Aman Gobel at University of Manchester to tell us about their experience of the training:

”The training and clinics were immensely helpful and boosted my confidence as a community manager! The tools made it easier to analyse key factors, map out activities, and ideate potential solutions that play a key role in community management. This has made me more time-efficient and able to prioritise my responsibilities and goals for the community. The discussions helped me understand new methodologies and approaches to project management, governance and collaboration, which has been useful in scaffolding other projects and helped me identify new collaboration opportunities. The reminders to acknowledge our wins more often and trust the process were crucial for me. They made me reflect on what we have already achieved as a community and left me excited for what’s coming up!”

What happened next

Following this training, SSI has commissioned OLS and RCM Cooperative to deliver “RCM for Leaders” training as part of their Cohort Based Open Leadership Training and Mentoring programme, funded by DisCouRSE - a UKRI-funded Network+ project that will encourage and support the development of leaders across all digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) roles.

We are continuing to work with SSI on a successfully funded DisCouRSE research project to discover hidden community leaders.

Cassandra Gould van Praag was selected as an SSI Fellow this year, through a competitive application and assessment process. She will be joining Emma Karoune and Malvika Sharan among a large network of Fellows dedicated to improving software in research.

RCM Cooperative’s specialised service model

RCM Cooperative leverages the breadth of our expertise to bring bespoke community solutions to your organisation.

• Professional RCM Training: We deliver the RCM101 curriculum, tailored to your sector’s specific technical and social requirements.
• Strategic Coaching & Mentorship: We offer “Community Clinics” to help project leads navigate complex member environments and build consensus.
• Open Infrastructure Design: We provide technical expertise in setting up equitable collaboration tools (e.g., GitHub, Slack) and documented workflows to ensure operational transparency.

Take a look at the github repo we used for managing and archiving materials for this project.